[Cloud.sessions]

Ive been making some system changes and thought I’d post about it. First I’m selling my Sonore streaming system, it’s been amazing and is amoung the best streamers I’ve heard. We just had the lampizator gulf stream in and I preferred the Sonore gear in my system. Sonore is a very good digital company and I couldn’t speak higher praise of them. I’ve really wanted to pull the trigger on the flagship hi-fi rose streamer, but alas I’m a bit of a tinkerer and design nut so I prefer something a little more involving. (Plus I mean 5 grand for a computer is starting to get into silly town, but hey this is a silly hobby). I’ve ordered the Ian Canada I2s streamer and I’m very excited to compare it to the Sonore stuff going into my May DAC and Sam’s DIY DAC. I’ve used Ian’s power supplies and they are wicked good so if he is a similar level of Digital designer, it could be really nice for the money. We'll see I’m a bit sceptical, if it can’t top the Sonore I will probably build an audiolinix based solution.
On some more fun news, I convinced Sam to refine the M4 crossover. You didn’t hear this from me, but the Sapphire tweeter is scheduled to be re-released and we may or may have not ordered a stash  . Sam was eager to get his hands on them again with potential of the sapphire line coming back. And I must say….what Sam did with this latest revision is astounding. I have never heard my M4 or any sapphire sound like this. the stage they throw defies logic, it is massive in every direction. Left to right, up and down, front to back, this speaker is throwing Hail Marys! Things 15 feet to the left of the speaker and things 15 feet deep in the stage and the images are still focused with great intelligibility. I’ve only ever heard 2 other systems do this, one is Ron’s room in Texas and the other is the Magico system at Minneapolis hi-fi. The vocals are also to die for! It’s right there with the Q3 in vocal performance. The way it viscerally places the vocalist while giving them a holographic nature is among the best I’ve heard, right there with the Q3. And last the clarity and detail got dialed up to 11. I’ve always felt like once Clayton had to put a full-fledged crossover on that sapphire tweeter and then later transitioned to a two way on the M4, It lost a lot of natural detail and fluidity. The original M3 was just…. Amazing. I’ve tried diligently to resurrect that in my M4. i’ve gone through a number of design revisions with Clayton and Sam. And alas I’d gotten better then a stock  sapphire but never to that level. Until now!! I don’t put this lightly. It’s better than the original M3 (no crossover) in terms of that effortless not in your face detail. It has that same resolution where the sapphire tweeter is playing but those 12 inch woofers just have a bit more resolution than the 15 inch. This has to be the most transparent crossover I’ve heard, and I’ve heard a lot, on different speakers. The downside to these new speakers is that you gotta know what you like in sound and how to get there. This crossover/speaker takes on so much of the sound of your system. If you want a scalpel, they will be that, if you wanna hook them up to a warm, smooth, forgiving system, they’ll be that too.

Spatial needs to come out with the sapphires again lol 

[Charles Xavier]

I'm a bit lost here, do you work at Spatial? The news on the tweeter coming back has been out for a while. In the meantime, Clayton has found a replacement tweeter that he has sent to me, and I think it sounds better than the original, YMMV.

[Cloud.sessions]

I'm a bit lost here, do you work at Spatial? The news on the tweeter coming back has been out for a while. In the meantime, Clayton has found a replacement tweeter that he has sent to me, and I think it sounds better than the original, YMMV.

Hi Charles,

Yes I’ve worked with Spatial for a few years. I use to do sales, today I’m a tech and help with design. What model do you have? I’m not aware of any drivers that could “replace” that tweeter at least with major redesigns in the crossover. What tweeter are you using now?
The peerless tweeter has always been a tough cookie to crack, when Clayton switch to a more aggressive filter to protect it I felt he lost most of the magic.

[Charles Xavier]

Hi Charles,

Yes I’ve worked with Spatial for a few years. I use to do sales, today I’m a tech and help with design. What model do you have? I’m not aware of any drivers that could “replace” that tweeter at least with major redesigns in the crossover. What tweeter are you using now?
The peerless tweeter has always been a tough cookie to crack, when Clayton switch to a more aggressive filter to protect it I felt he lost most of the magic.

I own the M3 Saphires. Clayton replaced my tweeterss about 2 months ago. He found an SB Acoustics tweeter that worked

[Cloud.sessions]

Ahhhh yes very good dome. It’s a bit easier to work than the peerless can be,  I’m glad you’re enjoying it. We’re actually working on the M3 now for when those tweeters become available again. May I ask, what version of the M3 do you own? Was it when there was nothing on the tweeter crossover, just a capacitor, or a full 2nd order crossover?

[Charles Xavier]

I really dont know. I never looked.I gave him the serial number

[Presb4]

Cloud, those look like some Schiit Aegirs in your rack, are they the old or new version 2's? I use to have the Vidars 2 , but upgraded a while back to the Tyrs. The extra power for me kept the bass cleaner for movie night in my den, and the Tyrs are more dynamic overall and warmer in the mids compared to the vidars 2. I have never heard the Aegirs and was wondering if you have ever compared the Trys to the Aegirs. If so I would like to know your thoughts. 

[Cloud.sessions]

Cloud, those look like some Schiit Aegirs in your rack, are they the old or new version 2's? I use to have the Vidars 2 , but upgraded a while back to the Tyrs. The extra power for me kept the bass cleaner for movie night in my den, and the Tyrs are more dynamic overall and warmer in the mids compared to the vidars 2. I have never heard the Aegirs and was wondering if you have ever compared the Trys to the Aegirs. If so I would like to know your thoughts.

They are the original Aegirs, I actually prefer the original Aegir to the new ones. They lost a little bit of that tone magic with the new ones. I will note though out of any component that improves by giving it clean power on my Puritan. The Aegir is number one. It really improves when you give it clean power. It goes from a really good $700 amp to a really good amp period, regardless of price. I swap between amps constantly, sometimes my Valhalla, sometimes the blackbirds and sometimes the purifi amp with the input buffer bypassed. All of them have attributes about them I love.
I originally was going to get Tyr as a more powerful Aegir is like a dream amp for me. My colleague and buddy Ryan ended up getting a pair when they first came out. And honestly I’ve never been able to fall in love with them like I could the Aegir. They are impressive amps, crazy dynamic, wicked bass, great scale to the image. But they just don’t have the same magical midrange that the Aegir has. The Tyr I’m familiar with is pretty dark to in the upper mids on up too. Newer versions of Tyr I’ve heard don’t seem to have this effect. I’m not sure if it’s system related or if after the first couple production runs schiit maybe changed something. I’ve known companies to do that so that wouldn’t shock me. Overall, I liked Tyr, but it hasn’t gotten me to pull the trigger on buying a pair. That friend Ryan I was talking about is actually just about to get a pass labs 30.8 to compare to his Tyr.

[Presb4]

Maybe they did change something. I picked up mine about one year after production started and in my system they are not dark. Then again I have them connected to my GR Research Brutes and I think its a great pairing. As I mentioned above, I use the Tyrs as my all around family amp in the Den/TV room for TV / Movies and just jamming out. I have a personally built ST-70, and Kegger KT88 SEP UL amp that I use when I want some tube magic. I have added a Raven to the mix and the clarity, L/R soundstage and depth of stage really opened up on my Tyrs. I was surprised that they benefited as much as they did when I connecting them to the Raven. I have always heard very good things about the Aegirs, Maybe one of these days I will find a used pair that I cant pass up.

[Cloud.sessions]

My Valhalla is probably my go to amp (Don Sachs st-70), It’s my favorite st-70 I’ve head. It’s impressive how much improvement that circuit can take. When I’m lucky I get the blackbirds for a few weeks to run in my system from spatial. But alas I don’t have the funds to buy them… one day though.  The blackbirds have best bass I’ve ever heard from any amp (including Tyr), We brought the blackbirds to Ron (new record day) and he actually commented the same thing. Which made me smile because a year before I was telling him about them and that they had the best bass I’ve heard. He was looking at me like surrrrrre maybe for a tube amp   .
Sounds like you’ve got yourself a nice system. What kind of music do you enjoy on it?

[Presb4]

I would have loved it if Ron put out a review on the Blackbirds. Did he not get enough time with them for a review? I would be looking closely at the Blackbirds except for they are just out of my price range right now.

Anyway, I agree, tube amps can have glorious bass. In my experience it mostly has to do with the power supply being stiff enough and the output transformers being sized right. I Have some Monolithic Magnetics SEUL OPTs sitting out in my shop right now for a 22W parallel KT88 project I will be doing this summer. Each OPT is 12lbs! They were not cheap. I expect that amp to be close to my end game tube amp once I have it done this summer.

Yes, I have been into all kinds of music, but the old pirate collage radio stations I use to tune into late on Saturday nights when I was a kid really got me into mid to late 80 alternative and later into the 90's harder alternative rock. Everything from the Fixx, to Nirvana, Tool to the Pixies is my kind of jam. How about you?

[Cloud.sessions]

He has a pair, we showed them to him after SWAF and he wanted to keep them for review. We have a few projects lined up with Ron in the future so keep your eyes peeled.

Yes your completely correct the power supply is key in a lot of instances. Most of these tube amps out there are still built like the 1950s and use a simple CLC network or the such. And you hear it! They are no where near SOTA in the power supply or the iron and it greatly affects their performance. That sounds like a fun project, enjoy  you’re going to love that monolith transformer. Don is actually doing something similar, he’s prototyping a balanced kt88 amp that is based off the blackbirds that should hopefully come in at half the price. I’m excited to hear it, it has the potential to be a real nice stereo amp.

Ahhh your bully’s make sense now, tool probably rocks on them! I listen to all kinds of music, I love tool, supertramp, the who, Radiohead, but I circle a lot of modern music too I enjoy pop, electronic, a little hip hop, daft punks Random Access Memories is a top 10 album of all time. Haley williams (paramore) Pedals For Armor is a terrific album too. I’ll even circle a little country or folk if it’s good. I’ve never heard Fixx I’ll have to check them out.

[DaveWin88]

Ive been making some system changes and thought I’d post about it. First I’m selling my Sonore streaming system, it’s been amazing and is amoung the best streamers I’ve heard. We just had the lampizator gulf stream in and I preferred the Sonore gear in my system. Sonore is a very good digital company and I couldn’t speak higher praise of them. I’ve really wanted to pull the trigger on the flagship hi-fi rose streamer, but alas I’m a bit of a tinkerer and design nut so I prefer something a little more involving. (Plus I mean 5 grand for a computer is starting to get into silly town, but hey this is a silly hobby). I’ve ordered the Ian Canada I2s streamer and I’m very excited to compare it to the Sonore stuff going into my May DAC and Sam’s DIY DAC. I’ve used Ian’s power supplies and they are wicked good so if he is a similar level of Digital designer, it could be really nice for the money. We'll see I’m a bit sceptical, if it can’t top the Sonore I will probably build an audiolinix based solution.
On some more fun news, I convinced Sam to refine the M4 crossover. You didn’t hear this from me, but the Sapphire tweeter is scheduled to be re-released and we may or may have not ordered a stash  . Sam was eager to get his hands on them again with potential of the sapphire line coming back. And I must say….what Sam did with this latest revision is astounding. I have never heard my M4 or any sapphire sound like this. the stage they throw defies logic, it is massive in every direction. Left to right, up and down, front to back, this speaker is throwing Hail Marys! Things 15 feet to the left of the speaker and things 15 feet deep in the stage and the images are still focused with great intelligibility. I’ve only ever heard 2 other systems do this, one is Ron’s room in Texas and the other is the Magico system at Minneapolis hi-fi. The vocals are also to die for! It’s right there with the Q3 in vocal performance. The way it viscerally places the vocalist while giving them a holographic nature is among the best I’ve heard, right there with the Q3. And last the clarity and detail got dialed up to 11. I’ve always felt like once Clayton had to put a full-fledged crossover on that sapphire tweeter and then later transitioned to a two way on the M4, It lost a lot of natural detail and fluidity. The original M3 was just…. Amazing. I’ve tried diligently to resurrect that in my M4. i’ve gone through a number of design revisions with Clayton and Sam. And alas I’d gotten better then a stock  sapphire but never to that level. Until now!! I don’t put this lightly. It’s better than the original M3 (no crossover) in terms of that effortless not in your face detail. It has that same resolution where the sapphire tweeter is playing but those 12 inch woofers just have a bit more resolution than the 15 inch. This has to be the most transparent crossover I’ve heard, and I’ve heard a lot, on different speakers. The downside to these new speakers is that you gotta know what you like in sound and how to get there. This crossover/speaker takes on so much of the sound of your system. If you want a scalpel, they will be that, if you wanna hook them up to a warm, smooth, forgiving system, they’ll be that too.

Spatial needs to come out with the sapphires again lol 

I like the paint job you've done. Is that with a cloth/sponge? So you're saying the M100 is making a comeback?

[Cloud.sessions]

Thanks Dave! It was done with a plastic bag in the paint room, Give it a little bit of that Marbling effect.

It sure looks that way, we contacted parts express and they verified and we put down a hefty order. I’m excited the M series has come along way and I’d love to see the return. This new crossover has really been a hit out of the park, I’ve had it for about a month now and I couldn’t be happier, I ordered a couple more components that will be my final version (mundorf ultra resistors to replace the mills) then I will put her back in the box and reattach it to the speaker. 

[DaveWin88]

They look like an Acora knock off. Well done! Hows the M100 treating you? I've never gave up on the M series. Although I did get some Magnepan .7's and used them for around ten months. Once I discovered a Jute rug, it made living with the M100 much easier. Going back to the M6 and having a handle on my room treatment, the Maggies really have nothing on the Spatials. The soundstage I can get will best everything the .7's are capable of, and even have a wider soundstage!  So I'm selling the .7's. With the right cables, the Spatials can even rival the Maggies in speed! Not knocking the Magnepans. I believe everyone should own a pair sometime in their journey. 

[Cloud.sessions]

I’ve been enjoying them, Sam went back to a first order on the tweeter which does a much better job not exciting the resonances in the Tweeter. He had a few tricks up his sleeve to make the roll off a bit steeper with the first order to protect the tweeter, the crossover was moved up just a bit to 700hz to not stress the tweeter quite so much. I’ve put it through its paces to make sure it can handle some juice. Sounds great even at loud levels!
Yes the wide dispersion of the the m100 can make room placement and treatment very important. The Sapphires wouldn’t be my choice in a super reflective room or if they were shoved up against the walls.

Ahhh your cinderblock Dave  . I believe Sam just redid your crossover recently. He actually based the tweeter section off mine (with a few tweaks to accommodate the size of the speaker). Your woofer section is a little different, it’s a 2 way vs mine is a 2 1/2 way. How are you liking the new version?

[DaveWin88]

I haven't received them yet. They're on the way as we speak. I'm very excited. David sent me a picture and I must say, the level of workmanship is second to none! You can tell the company takes pride in their work! I did a bit of research on the capacitors they used and man they sound like they'll be  pretty kick butt. A black background! Space between the instruments, open and transparent yet a level of forgiveness at the same time. I didn't want bleeding edge detail/transparency but want to be right at the fence I do like a wide dispersion tweeter as you can sit to the left or right of the soundstage and still get a great image.

Signed Cinder block Dave


 

[Cloud.sessions]

Love the room, You’re in for a treat! Yes the CMR is a wonderful cap, I love how they present decay so much. Definitely report back to us when you get them and get to spend some time with them.

[DaveWin88]

I own the M3 Saphires. Clayton replaced my tweeterss about 2 months ago. He found an SB Acoustics tweeter that worked

Was there an issue with the originals?

Cloud.sessions I'll let you guys know for sure!

[Charles Xavier]

Was there an issue with the originals?

Cloud.sessions I'll let you guys know for sure!

I had 2 that went bad but also have a spare pair of the m100 but took Clayton up on his offer